FSA Blog

MOOD: Excited and Proud

SONG: “Silhouettes,” by Smile Empty Soul

I have been back in the United States for a month now. The holidays have now long passed by, along with the feeling of being away for so long. During my Christmas celebrations every time I greeted a family member or friend, I was always referred to as the “world traveler.” I guess my experiences in England, and the rest of Europe, had been a topic of discussion and excitement while I was away. However, you would never know that I had been gone for so long if you had looked at my family at a glance.  We all looked normal eating our Christmas dinner and un-wrapping our presents the following morning, it appeared as though I had never left. It did not feel like that to me though. I felt like I was just visiting for the weekend and that I would be back at Roehampton in no time. After going to different places at least one a month, it felt like this was not the end of my stay at Roehampton. I really wish that had been the case though, I miss the people and the university terribly! I AM ALSO HAVING CRUNCHIE BAR WITHDRAWLS!

Coming home has definitely been an easier transition than that of our transition to England. It was not weird when I returned to see everyone driving on the right side of the road. It was not strange paying with American money. While it felt like I had never left when I was on US soil, it felt like I was in England forever while I was on English soil. I really wished that I had cherished the time that I was over in England better than I had. I am probably not going to have that chance ever again, and I wished that I had appreciated where I was and what I was doing a lot more than I did.

Today, I have finally accepted that I am home to stay and I am not returning to the great city of London. Watching the inauguration this afternoon was amazing, seeing my country’s own history in the making. The first African-American to be president of the United States of American, and I was not even in the country to vote for him. In England, the day after the Election Day was crazy! All over the tube, there were newspapers laying about, printed with President Obama’s picture onto the front page, and these newspapers were ecstatic that he had been elected! I am sure that a majority of Europe was excited to see that Obama had been elected. I still recall coming back from Amsterdam and going through customs and having the customs agent asking me whom I was voting for, as if it was a question to allow me to go through.

In three days, I will be moving onto the University of New Haven campus for the first time as an undergraduate student since my S.O.A.R in June of last year. I will be moving into my New Hall dorm room with Casey Brooks and Jenn Arey, the two girls who I had become really good friends with while I was over in England in my FSA group. We are extremely excited to be able to start the rest of our year on campus where it is a lot easier and cheaper, to go home and see our families when we want to. It is also a lot cheaper to live in the United States in comparison to England as well! The only pain is the fact that we have to start all over again. Meeting new people, buying EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE TEXTBOOKS, and buying things for our dorm room are some of the more difficult tasks that we will have to face. We also have to adjust towards the new teaching styles and grading, although that should prove to be not too difficult in the end.  

The thing that I am most excited for in the upcoming months is when Kara, Kat, and Nathan come to visit Casey, Jenn, and I in the USA! Kara and I have already planned a road trip down starting in Boston, going to Salem, Massachusetts, then to New York City to see Broadway, then down to Disneyworld in Orlando, and over to New Orleans to see the French Quarter! It will be the most traveling that I will have done in months and I CAN’T WAIT!

Note: This will be Shelby's last post on the Freshman Semester Abroad Blog.  However, we are happy to announce that Shelby has agreed to stay on as a Charger Blogger next semester!!!

MOOD: Nervous

SONG: “I’ve Just Seen a Face” by the Beatles as sung by Jim Sturgess in the film Across the Universe

5 days left…

Less than a school week left until I am finally home in the good old USA! I am ready for this week to fly by now because… I WANT CHRISTMAS! I WANT TO SEE MY FAMILY! I WANT PRESENTS! I WANT GINGER BREAD COOKIES AND EGGNOG! Hahaha… so close, yet so far away. My family is in shambles without me, and they are all Scrooges from what I can tell. My nephew took the webcam and shot what the my front yard looked like, so I could see if there was any snow… and what did I see hanging from my porch??? HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS! They are so lazy without me to give them the Christmas spirit! They do not even have a Christmas tree yet! I will be arriving on the 21^st in the very early morning, so much to do so little time!

But yeah… so today is my last day of classes, exams, and presentations! WOO HOO! So, all I have left is my French final exam tonight, which I am not so worried about because I think I will do okay. My presentation this morning may have been a different story. My group was falling apart literally! One girl in my presentation group was ill and could barely talk, so it ended up cutting down the length of our presentation. Then, my lecture group was not willing to participate in a group discussion that I was supposed to lead to add extra time to our presentation. The entire presentation was supposed to be ten minutes long, it ended up being 6 minutes long… can anyone say NOT GOOD! At least my tutor seemed to be going lenient on the groups, so I may be okay. It was just all going downhill today!

I JUST CAN’T WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS RIGHT NOW!!

MOOD:  Sad, yet Happy

SONG: “Home” by Michael Bublé

Eight more days….

I hate this feeling of wanting to go home and not at the same time. I HATE IT! I wish that the people I had met while studying here in London could come and move to Boston, and that way I would not have to say goodbye. Maybe my family from America could move to London and then it would be all good!

 Goodbye is so hard when some of the people are included under the list of some of the best people that I have ever met in my life. The hardest person to say goodbye to is going to definitely be Kara. She has become my best friend while I have been here, and it has only been three months! Without her, I do not think that I would have been able to cope with being separated from my family. I am also going to miss Kat, Sandy, Abby, Nathan, James, Oli, Danny, and so many more people. They have become my family while I have been here. Now I have two families, one in America and one in England.

I am ready to go home and I am not going to lie. I miss the people, my small suburban town, the familiarity of it all, the food, driving on the right side of the road, everything. However, I have come to love London and it makes it so hard to want to leave.

8 days is not enough time to say goodbye to the place that I have come to love. It is sad that today it has hit me that I am leaving this country, the people, my friends, everything that I have come to love.  I hate leaving, but I love that I am going home. I wish I could tear myself in two and stay in both places.  

Eight more days… it is not enough time, but the time could not pass any slower…

MOOD: Excited

SONG: “Decode” by Paramore

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!

Words can’t explain the amount of excitement that I had while sitting in my seat. I knew every word to every song, and yet I was still amazed by the musical performance of the actors. One word… INCREDIBLE. I recommend this play to anyone who enjoys a good musical, and superb singing and acting.

ROME!

If there is ever any place that you must visit, Rome is the city! It is amazingly beautiful! The food is terrific! Definitely try the ice cream, frozen yogurts, and mousse because they are to die for! The first thing I ate was lasagna and of course, being Italian food and all, it was perfecto! The sights are moving, such as the Trevi Fountain, which is absolutely awe inspiring. The Coliseum is absolutely everything I could have hoped for any more! The Spanish Steps has an amazing view of Rome, and of course the lovely shopping district below with Dior, Louis Vitton, Swarovski, La Perla, Gucci, Prada, etc. It was a girl’s dream come true… if she had the money to pay. The best part of that was the fact that some guy came up to us with roses, and Jenn, Casey, and I, not knowing what to do were about to walk away when the guy pulled us back saying “No, no, no, you pay!” When I asked him how much the roses were he didn’t even answer my question, he just made a movement with his hand that was supposed to have meant, apparently, one euro. I only had 50 cents on me, so I showed him that, to which he replied, “50 more cents.” I told him that I didn’t have any more change, he then proceeded to ignore me as I tried to give him the rose back. Then, Casey was digging through her purse and only came out with about 70 cents, to which he replied, “30 more cents,” which Casey didn’t have either. He looked to Jenn, and she didn’t have any change on her whatsoever. He then ripped the roses out of Jenn and I’s hands, and then pocketed Casey’s change while giving us a dirty look and cursing at us. He was the rudest Italian that we have met on our entire trip. The Pantheon is so cool inside with all the Christian artwork and the circle in the center of the roof. The Vatican is pretty cool, too, especially since we caught the last few minutes of Sunday mass. All we could think about was the movie Eurotrip, especially since we saw the Swedish guards outside of one of the gates. Anyone who has seen this movie will know why we were laughing so hard. We saw so many beautiful sights, and so many ruins of the once great empire. I only wish that the previous generations had only taken better care of some of the sights to preserve the history. Well, you can’t go back through time, and if I could, I would smack some sense into some people. Now, Casey, Jenn, and I are relaxing before our flight at six o’clock in the morning back to London, especially after every night so far here, I have been studying for my Spanish Final Exam which is tomorrow and writing my Introduction to Health and Sociology paper.

Now all I can say is….

                        13 DAYS LEFT UNTIL I GO HOME!!

MOOD: Crazed

Song: “What do you do?” by Papa Roach

18 days and counting until I fly home to Wrentham, Massachusetts, and the time could not go by any faster! This past week and a half has been insane! With Thanksgiving, my best friend, Brad, came to visit, going to Oceana (a local club), assessments, essays, and everything else in between it has just been complete mayhem!

November 25^th, Brad arrives! AHHH!  He got here at 7:00 in the AM! Not the best time to head to Heathrow, but it is all good! He got to meet all of my friends here at Roehampton, and got along great with them all. We had such a fun time, we watched as much of the Star Wars movies as we could because he is INFATUATED with them. Then, in the evening, my friend Stew’s band, Taking Out Tomorrow, had a gig in Camden at the Purple Turtle. They did sooooo good! I was so impressed because they were amazing!

November 26^th, Brad and I went shopping at the ASDA to get food to feed an army of two. We spent £165 on groceries alone!!  AHHH!! It was insanity! Then we chilled with Kara, Jenn, and Casey for the rest of the day, pretty normal routine.  In the evening, we went on a Jack the Ripper tour for our London as a Resource class, and that was AWESOME! The movie, “From Hell,” with Johnny Depp was completely wrong, I have come to find out, which does not surprise me whatsoever.  However, that movie is still awesome, too! Our guide showed us all of the spots where the murders were and all that was entailed to these murders. Brad and I even went into the Ten Bells, which is a pub that claims to have served Jack the Ripper. This place was extremely sketchy to me, but otherwise was cool. It still had the feel of being from the late 19^th/early 20^th century, which I thought was cool. The drinks were extremely expensive though, on a student budget, so Brad and I headed back to Roehampton to watch “From Hell,” with Kara, Jenn, and Casey.

November 27^th, THANKSGIVING! Although we were not in the states, we still managed to have a family style dinner with chicken instead of turkey. Everything else was perfect otherwise with mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce, stuffing, etc. The chicken was even good! Kara, Jenn, and Brad did all of the cooking because Casey and I were nose deep into the Twilight series, which by the way, we girls are jealous of the fact that the movie came out so early in the states and does not come out here until the day before we depart. I also had class that evening, so that was not cool having to leave dinner, but while I was at class the rest of the group made hand traced turkey like the ones that you would make in elementary school, bringing back a lot of memories. Good times…

November 28^th, Kara’s mother and grandmother came to visit Kara, and they are some of the sweetest and funniest people I have met while in England. I could swear that Kara’s grandmother fancied Brad by the way that she was flirting with him. In the afternoon, Brad, Kara, Kara’s mother and grandmother, and I headed to Hammersmith to do some shopping. Mostly we bought… white cotton sheets, paperclips, bendable flowers, leather belts, and shoes. What else could you wear to the….TOGA BOP! AHHH! That was soooo much fun! I had so much fun just dancing with my friends. It all reminded me of the movie “Animal House,” “TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!” I loved the fact that Brad was wearing Timberland boots with his toga… ahhh good times…

November 29^th, I had plans to bring Brad into Central London to show him the typical “tourist sites” such as Big Ben, the Eye, and the like. However, I slept to long and did not have enough time to bring him especially since we went shopping in Kingston with Casey, Jenn, and Kara. After shopping for a bit, we ate dinner at NANDO’S, which was DELICIOUS!  After dinner, we went into Weatherspoons, a cheap pub and waited for a guy, Dan, that Kara was going to go on a date with.  However, Dan was nervous about having us there, so Jenn and Casey went back to the campus while Brad and I decided to move to another table and get Brad some fish and chips. After staying at that pub reading a book and playing on my iPod for four and a half hours, thinking that Dan had no idea that we were there, we did not leave until the pub closed at midnight. I also came to find out that he knew that we were there waiting for Kara within five minutes of the date because I was wearing an Avenged Sevenfold shit, both Kara and I’s favorite band. Figures, right?

November 30^th, Brad and I basically relaxed the entire day and slept a lot to catch up from a wild week so far, including the usual weeknights of partying and the usual drama associated with the Bop.  So, we watched a lot of anime, which we both like, such as “Inuyasha,” “Ranma,” and “Hellsing.” Then, we watched a lot of YouTube videos for the rest of the day.

December 1st, classes and sleeping, gotta love college. Brad basically slept until 9PM when I woke him up to let him get ready for OCEANA! Oceana is a really cool club, and Monday and Wednesday nights are Student nights, so it is a lot cheaper. We basically danced until around 4 AM this morning.

December 2^nd, today, it has been absolute insanity! We didn’t get back to my flat until around 4 AM this morning, and then we had to get right to packing because Brad’s flight to go back home was what we thought to be at 7:45 AM. We were rushing all around my room, going crazy making sure that he had everything packed up. By 6 AM, we were on the tube headed to Heathrow. When we finally arrived at Heathrow around 6:45 AM, we found out that his flight was not until 10:45 AM. GRRR! I still had not slept yet. I left him at Heathrow, without tears falling, well, at least not in front of him. Once I got back to my flat, I passed out! Around 2 PM, I heard a knocking at my window and a face I thought I was not going to see for about another 20 days. He had missed his flight! I could not process it! I checked him in! HOW DID HE MISS IT!?!?!? The smarty that he is was at the wrong gate, and by the time he had found the right gate, he was late by ten minutes. We were four hours early and he still managed to miss his flight. So, we sorted him another flight for $245 at 7:15 PM. I had to work on my essays for my classes, which was my original plan for the day, so I could not drop him off this time. It is now 9:30PM, so I am hoping that no news is good news and he made his flight this time! I am definitely crossing my fingers on this one!

Now… I need to stop procrastinating and start writing my papers because tomorrow night, I’m going to see Phantom of the Opera and I leave Friday for Rome for the weekend, so I will have no time to write all my essays! AHHH! So much to do, so little time!

Mood: Content

Song: “Love me Tender” by Elvis Presley

I am so happy! OMG! My mom sent me a package about two weeks ago full of all my favorite junk food that they do not have in England! AHH! I LOVE MY MOM! The last two days have been heaven for me! Cooler Ranch Doritos, Nature’s Valley Granola Bars, Teddy Grahams, Twizlers, Fruit Roll-ups, etc were all sent inside this lovely box of yummy goodness! The after effect was not so awesome. I’m guessing that my stomach has been getting accustomed to the British food, and so I’ve had a really bad stomach ache, but then again that could also be from the fact that I devoured all this food!

So one more week until my best friend arrives and I could not be any happier! I cannot wait! In addition, for my London as a Resource class, our FSA group is going on a Jack the Ripper walking tour, and I am allowed to bring him! I have to say that I think that my London as a Resource class is my favorite class this semester! I have had so much fun, and I really like the tutor. He is a genuinely nice person, and knows a lot about British literature and history.

Well, now I am starting my countdown until I have to leave and return home… 31 days! This is bittersweet that it is fast approaching. I love London, but I am really homesick, and miss my family and friends like crazy! I am definitely going to miss the friends that I have made while attending Roehampton, for these friendships will last a lifetime, and I know that for a fact.

Mood: in need of a nap…

Song: “Tonightless” by Eighteen Visions

This has definitely been one of the busiest couple of weeks that I have had yet this semester, and one of the craziest!

Starting on November 6^th, I went to Disneyland in Paris, and that was AMAZING! Kara, Jenn, Casey, Tania, Nathan, Rob, and I had a blast! I also learned that in each of the different Disney Park’s there is a different castle for a different princess. This one was Princess Aurora’s castle from Sleeping Beauty, and the castle was pink! Kara and I were acting as if we were little kids again because we were both so excited! One of my favorite parts was this special effects show, in Disney Studios, based on the movie Armageddon. I think Kara’s favorite part was when we both went onto the Tower of Terror and the picture that we got from it. To clarify things, I am severely afraid of dropping elevators, and umm… yeah. I LOOKED TERRIFIED!  AHHH! We also went on the Rocking’ Rollercoaster with Aerosmith music, and I loved that. So, as the ride was going Kara and I were belting out the lyrics to all the songs being played! When we got back to the hotel on the first night, we also found out that a friend of ours, Chris, had proposed to his girlfriend, Claire, in front of Snow White’s house in Fantasyland, so we thought that was sweet! Congratulations Claire and Chris! The second day was cool; we spent all day in the Disneyland Park, going on EVERY SINGLE RIDE! Kara and Chris also decided that they wanted to be like Snow White and sing to all the animals to call them to them, so that got annoying after a while especially all the way towards the ferry on the bus.

When we started this leg of our trip home, it was not so fun…

                We ended up being stuck on the ferry crossing the English Channel in a storm. We were stuck on the ferry for FOUR HOURS! We should have only been on the ferry for about an hour on a normal day. Eventually, Kara, Chris, and I were planning on how we were going to survive if the boat were to sink. Thinking about how we would grab this wooden door, some picture frames on the wall, seat cushions, the whole nine yards. We then blamed the storm on Chris and Kara, arguing that all the sea animals were getting angry that they had been calling them when they were not needed, so this was payback from the animals. Hahahaha… it was all good. When we finally got off the ferry, I’m willing to bet that every person on that bus was praising the fact that we were on land because I know I was! When we finally got back to school at around 2:00 in the morning, I was exhausted, and still had not gotten rid of my sea legs.

By the time I had woken up in the morning, at around 9 o’clock in the morning, I was sooo sick! I still had not gotten rid of my sea! Let’s just say that the toilet was my best friend that day. I finally recovered on Tuesday, and went shopping with Casey and Jenn in Kingston, and dropped off my final sketch for my tattoo that I had an appointment for on that Thursday. I was sooooo excited!!

This tattoo is amazing! However, the pain that I went through to get it was inexplicable. It was such an excruciating pain! I was such a pansy! I blame it on the fact that the tattoo is on my foot, so there is no meat to cushion the blow. Jenn and Casey are troopers though! They barely flinched! Jenn was reading Eclipse by Stefanie Meyer, which is part of the Twilight series. They both got their own zodiac signs on the back of their necks. Jenn then got her siblings zodiac signs in their birthstone colors on her ankle, while Casey got her siblings zodiac signs in faded purple to black on her ribs. My tattoo is of the first four measures of “Love Me Tender” by Elvis Presley with the lyrics “Love me tender, Love me sweet…never let me go,” around it. My dad used to sing this song to me when I was little, and I played this song on the flute at his funeral, too. So, I know that I won’t regret it ever. We were all in soo much pain Thursday night. The worst part though is the after care because I had to leave for Paris the next morning at 5 o’clock in the morning!!!! AHH!!!

I have to keep my foot covered in saran wrap all day while I’m walking and keep putting baby rash lotion on it every three to five hours. That is a difficult feat in the city of Paris! It was such a pain!

While in Paris though, I have seen the Eiffel Tower in the day and night, and the best time to see the Eiffel Tower is at night on the hour because it is a different color and then it sparkles for five minutes straight! When I saw it, it was blue and purple. It was sooo pretty! I also saw Notre Dame, Moulin Rouge, Montmartre, Sacre Coeur, the Louvre, and the Palace of Versailles. My favorite out of all is most definitely the Louvre. We got in for free because on Friday night for student or anybody under the age of 26, it is free. So, we saw The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, ancient Egyptian artifacts, Medieval parts of the palace of Louvre, and so much more. It was beautiful and so awesome!

Right now, I’m on my way home from Paris, using the Eurostar, which will take in total about three hours to get home, without going on the terrible Ferry, while the last time took about 10 hours. The Eurostar is my hero, that’s all I can say!

So far, this trip has also opened up my eyes and definitely changed my mind about many things. So, I have decided that I’m going to be changing my major to Psychology when I get back in the spring, and then I’m going to be doing the 5-Year Elementary Education program that allows me to get my Masters degree in Elementary Education and my Bachelors degree in Psychology. I will also be getting my 5^th year paid for by my internship.. Quite a change, but I think that the older I get, the more sense and logic is being instilled into me. In addition, I’m definitely becoming a lot more mature the longer I am in the university, too.

Back to the fun stuff….

Next week is going to be crazy with a lot of work on my assignments due in December. For the following week, a couple of my friends and I are planning a Thanksgiving Dinner, with all the makings. Turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. I can’t wait! Then, my one of my best friends from home is also coming to visit me for NINE DAYS!! I’m SO HAPPY!! AHHH I CAN’T WAIT!!

Mood: Worn out

Song: “Fall for You” by Secondhand Serenade

And so, chaos begins….

It is Guy Fawkes Day in good old England today, so the fireworks have been incessant for hours now, and of course, I am in the middle of writing a paper for my Questioning Citizenship. So, this is just lovely.

Well, Halloween was pretty cool last Friday, and yes I did dress up! I was an 18^th century vampire, and I had wicked awesome fangs… now I feel like a loser, but it does not matter because I had a lot of fun! My English friends, Kara and Matt, dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so they looked amazing! Ahh… good times sitting in  Kara’s dorm room painting pillow cases, so they looked like turtle shells, and then lashing said pillow cases stuffed with four pillows on to their backs. Then, I sat there watching as they painted every inch of skin that was visible with green, and very oily, face paint.

Ahhh, the memories…

Jenn, Casey, Shane, and I went to the London Dungeon, which was pretty cool! Except there were many intoxicated people, so they ruined some of the show. Then, on the way trying to get home, we literally got the last call for every tube and bus that we had to take to get home. We were running to catch them, too! A taxi fare from central London to Roehampton would have been HUGE if we had to do something like that, and I was not ready to pay any more than I had to!

But, anyway…

This morning I helped Jenn bring her boyfriend, Shane, to Heathrow airport, so he could fly back home after being here for two weeks. When I mean morning, I mean like 5:00 A.M.! AHHH!! I barely got any sleep because I was waiting for my friend back home, Brad, to call me, so I was up until like 2:30 A.M., finally passed out, and got two hours of sleep. The bad part though, was that this is the second day in a row trying to fly Shane out of London because yesterday all the morning flights were canceled due to weather. So, literally like four hours of sleep between the last two days. However, once I got back to my room at ten o’clock, I literally just passed out onto my bed, and missed my London as a Resource and Intro to Health and Sociology classes, not on purpose, but there was no way anything in this world could have woken me up! I actually did not wake up until around 5 P.M. because all the firework started. Now, I am writing this blog and working on my Questioning Citizenship paper that is due in two weeks. Scheduling another trip to Paris, that is with Proscenium Tours, so it is more in-depth and organized hopefully than my trip to Amsterdam. In addition, I am packing for tomorrow when I leave for… DISNEY! AHH! YAY!

MICKEY AND MINNIE MOUSE HERE I COME!

Mood: Exhausted

Song: “Wake Up” by Story of the Year

“We are alive for a moment, one second in the great abyss of time…” this quote, overall, describes my feelings from this past weekend. I lived the one moment the best I could. I went to Amsterdam and Bruges with Casey, Jenn, Jenn’s boyfriend Shane, Jerrica, Dominique and Logan.  It was amazing! I had sooo much fun! The travel to get to the coach was a different story all together though! First, we were supposed to meet at Victoria Station between platforms 15 and 19, in front of a little convenience store at 7:30 P.M. The guide to the bus did not even get there until forty-five minutes later! Then, she took us onto the train where we got off in Brighton, and then walked to meet the bus. However, when I mean walk, I mean meandered through streets upon streets upon streets, until we got to a little corner in the middle of nowhere, and then we were told to wait for a bus.  She then left without any more information as to what the bus looked like, who was out actual guide, when the bus was coming, NOTHING!! I was sooo aggravated, especially because with all the walking that we did, I was wearing four-inch heeled boots! I know it was dumb on my part, but I just bought them that afternoon and I wanted to break them in. So, it was cold, my feet hurt, we were all confused, and I was just not in the mood for anything. But of course, once the bus finally arrived, Casey and I sat behind two girls, who did not speak a word of English, not that I am holding that against them, but they had the backs to their seats literally ON MY LAP!!! I could not put the back to my seat down either to balance it out because my seat handle was broken.  I even tried asking the girls in front of me to lift the backs of their seats for a second, so I could get up and use the bathroom…they lowered them even further! GRRR!! After ten hours on the charter bus, seeming to drive endlessly, also stopping at the “Chunnel,” which was wicked cool!! The Chunnel is a huge train you drive into, and it goes underneath the English Channel into France. We were finally in AMSTERDAM!!! Jenn, Shane, Casey, Logan and I got lost from the group not even five minutes in, but we managed to walk down all the streets of Amsterdam. Except, when it came time to go to the Red Light District that night, Casey and I had passed out at our Hostel from walking so much, and missed our alarm, so I missed that tour, but I don’t know if that was a good or a bad thing? Hmm…I think that Amsterdam is definitely glorified in all the movies that you see…*cough* Eurotrip *cough* Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay *cough* Deuce Bigalo: European Gigolo *cough*… sorry I have a bad cold. :-)

Casey and I woke up the next morning around six in the morning because we forgot about Daylight Savings Time, so we thought we woke up at seven, and breakfast started at 7:30 A.M. The bus was due to leave for a windmill and wooden shoe making tour, that we were not too interested in seeing, but we did not know that the bus was not going back into the city. So, when we got onto the bus and saw that Dominique, Jerrica, and Logan were not on, we knew that they were still asleep. I also knew that Dominique and Jerrica had already paid to go on this little side trip, so I tried to get them up before the bus would leave them behind. But, once Casey, Jenn, Shane, and I stepped off the bus to see if we could go back into Amsterdam, it was too late. So, that was bad for Jerrica and Dominique, but we did not even end up going back into Amsterdam, we just chilled at the hostel and ate breakfast.

Around 12:30 P.M., the bus came back to pick us up and take us to Bruges, and I have to tell you that it is the most beautiful town I have even seen in my life! It reminded me of London that you can see in some period movies like From Hell, or The Other Boleyn Girl. It was breathtaking. The coolest part about this town is the fact that it is still a medieval town, too. There are limited amount of cars being driven, and in order to bring a car into the city, you have to have a special permit. The best part of the town though… is the FOOD!!! Think of it, Belgian chocolate and waffles! AHHH!! IT WAS SOOOO GOOD!!! All the different shops filled with pastries and treats were amazing!! I think that when I get back home, I will definitely convince my mother to go back with me because she would absolutely love it! Bruges is sooo beautiful! After spending a couple of hours in Bruges, we headed back home, and the ride home was absolutely miserable because we were all soaked from the rain, minus the fact that we watched Eurotrip, so we had a few laughs along the way home and the ride didn’t seem as long.  We finally got home around 3 o’clock in the morning, so when I finally lay down to sleep, I was out for the long haul. I even ended up missing my first class because I slept pass my alarm! Whoops!

Well, Friday is Halloween, and I am soo excited! Jenn, Casey, Shane, and I are going to the London Dungeon, a really cool amusement tour/ride. I went once before last year, and I heard it is even better this year, so I am really excited! I also got a costume to dress up in because I am still a kid at heart, I love dressing up for Halloween! I am a vampire, so that’s also pretty cool. I only hope that I can make it back in time for the Halloween Bop, or at least go to a club with some friends that are also dressed up! I may look like a total loser, dressed up, but at least I’m having fun!

So, next week I’ll be going to the theatre to see Wicked, so that should be a lot of fun and then, the next weekend, I’ll be headed to Disney and Paris!! AHHH!! I also booked some tickets to see Phantom of the Opera in December, but the tickets are front row center stage, so that should be AMAZING!!

Mood: Extremely Emotional

Song: Switchfoot “Learning to Breathe”

Yet another long week at Roehampton University! This has been a very emotionally straining week, for me, and for a majority of the students here at campus, particularly a lot of my very close friends here. A student on campus passed away this morning, and he was a very close friend to many of the people that I have come to know and love here. The funny thing is, is that I met him just Saturday morning at Brenda’s for breakfast with my friend Danny. From just meeting him once, I saw that he was such a happy person, and very funny. He was, obviously, a very loved person from what I could tell by the multitude of people that I saw at a meeting this afternoon. I pray that his family knows this.

On a lighter note, 80’s Night at the Bop was sooooo much fun! I was dressed as Cindy Lauper mixed with Madonna, so that was a lot of hairspray and random colors.  Jenn, Casey, Kara, Abby, and I got dressed and made up at Kara’s flat, so that was a lot of fun, too. I found out that I absolutely believe that my friends and I belonged in the 80’s! hahaha! We all looked like typical 80’s divas, or at least exaggerated divas… Well, Logan looked hilarious in his outfit; he looked like a typical prep golfer from the 80’s with a golfer’s hat and all. James, my flat rep, and Oli, a friend of ours, were some of the DJ’s for the night, and both of their sets were pretty awesome, I must say. Also, I discovered that “Sex on Fire ,” by the Kings of Leon, is an awesome song, and they play it at almost every event on campus, as the well should! Once we started to head back to Digby Stuart College from Froebel, Kara, Kat, Jenn, and Casey decided to reenact “The Titanic,” on the front main lawn of Digby Stuart, and they we had a pig pile, which I did a Superman move on top of. When we eventually got back to the flat around 2:30 AM, I have never had so much fun! Casey, Jenn, and Kara decided that they were going to hang out in the bathtub of my flat, while Danny and a couple of others hung out and listened to music in my room.

Mood: Excited

Song: “Lip gloss and Black” by Atreyu

OMG!! Last night was Taste of Chaos with Atreyu, As I Lay Dying, Story of the Year, MUCC, Horse the Band, and The Forgotten. It was soooo much fun! I’ve never heard of MUCC or The Forgotten, so it was pretty cool to hear some new music. MUCC is a Japanese rock band, so all of their lyrics were Japanese, but the beat was pretty cool. It was so cute; there were a couple of girls in front of me that were there to see The Forgotten, a local band from their town. They said that they felt like proud parents because of how big their band was getting. I know have bruises all over my chest and back because I was on the bar between the stage and the crowd, in the dead center!! It was awesome! The lead singer of Story of the Year came off the stage and stood up on the stool in front of us for the photographers. I had to help him stand up, and then I helped him get ready to crowd surf right over my head, so that was awesome. Then, the bassist came and played right in front of us, too! I was most excited to see Atreyu, and I was soo mad because my camera died right before the went on stage! AHH!! GRR!! At the end of the show though, I got the set list and a guitar pick from the lead guitarist after they played my favorite song!! The great thing about last night was the fact that it was Casey’s first concert ever, and she got front row dead center, and two guitar picks from Atreyu!  All I can say is that was a great show!

From now on I think I’m going to add a mood and song of the moment to the top of all my blogs, so you can see what I’m feeling…

Mood: Pensive and Melancholy

Song: “Believe” by Staind

This weekend has kind of sucked. I found out that an old friend of mine is in the hospital, in ICU, with severe head injuries and is a coma, and on top of that, he has pneumonia. In addition, there is no possible way for me to go and visit him. My prayers go out to him and his family, and, hopefully, he has a speedy recovery. 

So, yeah, today I have my first oral assessment in French, not so excited about that. Oh, and tonight I have my first Freshman Experience class with Dr. Adams. What stinks though is not that I have his class all five nights this week, but that I have his class conflicting with my French and Spanish class. So, I have to meet with Dr. Adams and discuss what I should do for that. I’m hoping to see Taste of Chaos on Wednesday night , too, with Atreyu and Story of the Year, so I’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out.

I’m still sick from the Fresher’s Flu, and it’s getting worse, so if it doesn’t go away by Friday, I’ll probably go to the free clinic down at Queen Mary’s Hospital right across the road. So, cross your fingers for me and hope I get better!

This past weekend was amazing! The whole group went to Stonehenge and Bath, and it was so awesome!! Stonehenge is a complete wonder to me, I don’t even understand how these HUGE rocks could have been moved thousands of years ago, without the use of modern tools! It is amazing, and there are so many theories as to the origins and purpose of these rocks, too! It was pretty gross though, thinking about the Druid hills, with all the bodies in them of rulers and wealthier people. Jenn was pretty disgusted with it.

The actual site was amazing. I have never seen something that had so much history in my life. With so many different theories related to it, ranging from aliens, gods, to Druids, there leaves a lot to be pondered.

We also went to Bath, which is a small town known for its healing waters, which is something I definitely needed because the Fresher’s Flu has finally caught up with me! There was a lot of really great shopping there were so many awesome stores and really cute shops in tiny alley ways, giving the whole area a lot of character. There was a little pastry shop, with a bunch of young lads, working at the counter were talking with the customers about the football game that day. There was a little cookie bakery, which had AMAZING cookie, and I don’t think they had one bad cookie in the whole shop. For all the girly-girls out there… THEY HAD TONS OF SHOE STORES!!!

But, I digress…

The Roman baths were really cool, too. Another piece of history, which is also ancient and there is still more to discover, even to this day. However, the water was pretty gross, it was green from all the algae, and they don’t treat the water with chemicals either. There were a ton of artifacts all around the museum, showing the viewers what the Roman Baths may have looked like all those years ago when Rome was present in England. This place was absolutely gorgeous with all the ancient arcitechure still prevelant throught the city. Like the Royal Cresent, which is now about 70 apartments all worth about $60,000,000 each.

When we finally got back from the rainy field trip, I was more sick than I had been before I left in the morning, so I guess the healing waters didn’t work after all… or maybe rain just canceled everything the healing water had done for me! However, I have some exciting news!!!

Drum roll please …

I’M GOING TO AMSTERDAM, PARIS & DISNEY, AND ROME!!! AHHHH!!

It has already two weeks since we have been here, and I just started class two days ago!! AHH! I found out that there would be no chance of me making my German class because the classes are on two different campuses. One is in the Duchesne building and the other is in Parkstead, which is in Whitelands. So, now I have switched to Elementary Spanish on Thursday nights, that kind of stinks so I can’t have four-day weekend trips anymore. However, I don’t mind my classes so much there all pretty well so far. I went grocery shopping last night at the ASDA, and spent £65, which is about $130. I also signed up this week also to go to Paris and Disney on November 6^th through the 10^th, which should be AWESOME! I also signed up to see Wicked, which I’m told is an awesome play, and my mom is going to kill me for seeing it without her! I am trying to make plans to go to Amsterdam which some of the people from New Haven, but I figured out it’s really expensive to travel… no duh.

Last night I celebrated a girl in my friend’s flat’s 21^st birthday at the Belfry, the pub in Digby Stuart College, and that was a lot of fun. I didn’t get back until around midnight. When I got back, I talked to my best friend, Jess, who I haven’t been able to talk to for almost 2 ½ weeks :-(, using Skype , which is amazing!! I also got to talk to my mom for a few minutes, so that was cool. The homesickness hasn’t quiet hit me yet, and I am hoping that if or when it does that it’s not terrible. So far, I’m just missing my nieces and nephews, siblings, and my mom. My whole family is really close, so it has been a little hard for me, but it helps having my friends from New Haven, so I do not feel like I am the only American in the whole of London. 

This week is definitely a lot more calm that the previous week. The weather is now living up to its reputation, the sky is constantly cloudy with bits and pieces of sun for about ten minutes. It has been sprinkling on and off, too.

We had registration yesterday that took a good couple of hours and was so much more confusing than the registration back home. Right now, I’m taking five classes:

Monday

-Questioning Citizenship from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM

-Beginner Level Spanish from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Wednesday

-London as a Resource from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM

-Introduction to Health and Sociology from 2:00 PM to 3:45 PM

-Beginner Level German from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Not so excited.

Well, at least I have Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday off, so when I go on my weekend trips I can leave Wednesday night and get back to campus Sunday night! The thing that stinks is that I don’t know all the locations of my classes, I’m hoping that my Into to Health and Sociology class is close to my German class or else I’m going to be running!!

Composed on September 18, 2008

• 2 Bath Towels
• 2 Face Clothes
• 1 Container of push tacks
• 1 Roll of double sided tape

• 2 Small jars of peanut butter
• 1 Jar of strawberry jam
• 1 Bag of Cooler Ranch Doritos
• 1 Loaf of bread
• 4 HUGE bottles of water

Hello, readers! I'm Katherine Szabo, I'm 18 years old and very soon I will be traveling to the beautiful city of London with FSA! I'll tell you a bit about myself and why I chose to do FSA, for starters.

When I first went to visit UNH in my sophomore year of high school, I heard that they had a brand new Freshman Study Abroad program, and I just knew that I had to do it! All my life I had always had a huge interest in British culture and history, something that I picked up from my mother. I first went to London when I was nine years old, and I immediately fell in love! I've been there three times since then, and I am absolutely ecstatic to have the opportunity to stay there for an extended period. My dream is to one day live in the UK. The majourity of my favourite actors, television shows, bands, sports teams (GO MAN UNITED!), authors, etc. are all British.I've also taken to spelling words the British way, something I've been doing since I was very young. I can't even help it anymore!

Ever since I found out that I was going to FSA I've been planning what I'm going to do during my stay! So far I've tickets to many shows featuring some of my favourite actors, and tickets to see see some of my favourite sports teams. Plus, I've many other plans to see concerts and visit all sorts of museums and monuments! One of the main things I want to do is see landmarks of my all-time favourite author, Oscar Wilde! I will be sure to let everyone know what I'm up to and take plenty of pictures.

Thank you for reading! I look forward to updating as frequently as possible!

Hey guys! This is my fist entry to my blog, and although this may be the most boring part of my blog, I thought I might give you all a little insight as to why I am so excited to be going to England for my first semester with the FSA program. First, I really wanted to study abroad in London for my first semester and I am so ecstatic that I am blessed with this opportunity! Second, I had gone to London last Christmas to perform in the New Year’s Day Parade and just fell in love with England! It is absolutely an amazing country, with so much of a history, and of energy. Third, not many people can say that they have studied abroad for their first semester of college, ever. Finally, I am always up for trying something new and different, especially diverse cultures and I thought that this was just perfect for me!

Some information that you may want to know about me, is that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MUSIC! I plan to see several concerts and musicals while in London, so this will definitely be affecting my blog. Within the next couple of months, you may see several references to shows that I have seen, and that I may or may not recommend to anyone who studies next year in England. I will give you all the scoop, don’t you worry! I also love photography, so once I have this blog figured out I will most likely be attaching many pictures of my adventures!

Now that the formalities are over…

 With only one more week left until I head off to England, and I could not be any more excited! I have had a few bumps along the way dealing with my visa being all screwed up because of my picture, but other than that everything is going great. I was so excited and nervous that I might be forgetting something that I stayed up all last night and packed all of my stuff! Do you know how much of a pain it is to try and get a bag of luggage, full of a person’s belongings for a semester’s length of time, to be less than fifty pounds?!?! Using the bathroom scale did not help me much either! After finally getting to sleep at around 4:30 AM, now I at least know that I am not going to be a total disaster come September 16^th.

It is really exciting to be studying abroad for my first semester, but it is also really hard leaving my family so soon. Oh, and another thing, I am going to be missing Thanksgiving! AHH!! But, no worries, my family and I set up an early Thanksgiving dinner last Sunday, with all the works! Turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, veggies, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie, which was all yummy, yummy, yummy! It was weird, it was ninety degrees out and I was slaving over a hot stove, while the kids were all swimming in the pool, so it was definitely not your typical Turkey Day.

As this upcoming week passes by, I am most likely going to be getting more and more nervous about leaving. I think that it’s the kind of nervous that you can’t tell if it’s because of fear of the unknown, or the excitement of finally leaving home, or maybe both, all I know is that it’s going to be one crazy ride…